Free Delivery Order Template (PDF, Word & Excel)

Delivery order vs delivery note

The two documents share a word and almost nothing else, and the difference is direction in time. A delivery order is issued before the goods move: the party who owns or controls them instructs a carrier or warehouse to release them to someone named on the page. A delivery note travels with the goods and records what actually arrived — it is filled out around the handover, checked at the door, and signed as evidence of what was received.

Put another way: the order authorizes a movement that has not happened yet; the note documents a movement as it happens. A warehouse holding your stock acts on the order and would never act on a note; a receiver checking boxes at their door reads the note and has no use for the order. One shipment can involve both — an order to get the goods released, a note to record their arrival — and neither substitutes for the other. If the document you need is the one that rides along and gets signed on receipt, use the delivery note template instead; everything below is about the instruction.

What goes on a delivery order

Every field on the template exists to answer one of three questions the warehouse will ask before releasing anything: who says so, what exactly, and to whom.

Who says so. The issued-by block names the consignee or owner of the goods — the party with the right to direct them — and the authorization signature at the bottom is that party committing to the instruction. An unsigned delivery order is a suggestion; no warehouse should act on one.

What exactly. The goods table lists each line with a description, the quantity, and the shipping marks — the lot numbers, container references or carton markings that let a picker match the instruction to physical stock. The order number at the top, often called the DO number, is what every later document and email quotes back; date it, keep it unique, and the paper trail stays traceable.

To whom, where, and when. The release-to block names the collecting party and the ID they must present, and the pickup section fixes the location and the time window. The received-by sign-off at the bottom stays empty until collection: whoever takes the goods signs it, and the completed order becomes the warehouse's proof that it released the right goods to the right party on the right instruction.

Sample delivery order

Here is a filled delivery order for an importer releasing stock from a bonded warehouse:

Delivery Order DO-2081 · Date: July 30 Issued by: Meridian Imports LLC (consignee) · To: Portside Bonded Warehouse, Bay 4 Release to: Kestrel Haulage — driver must present company photo ID and quote DO-2081 Pickup: Bay 4 loading dock · July 31, 08:00–12:00

Twelve pallets, three lines, and not a price anywhere — a delivery order lists quantities and marks, never values, because the warehouse releasing the goods has no business knowing what they cost. Now run the scenario the release-to block exists for: a driver from a different haulage firm turns up at Bay 4 on the 31st, polite and confident, with the right address and the wrong company name. The warehouse checks the ID against the release-to line, finds no match, and the goods stay put. That is the whole security model of the document, and it only works if the release-to block names a specific party and the ID requirement is written down rather than assumed.

If you're the warehouse: what to verify before releasing

Two checks, in order. First, verify the DO number against the instruction you actually hold — the order presented at the dock must match one issued to you by a party entitled to direct those goods, with an authorization signature you recognize; a document that merely looks official proves nothing. Second, verify the collector's ID against the release-to block, exactly as written. If either check fails, release nothing and phone the issuer using contact details you already have on file, not a number printed on the paper in front of you. Then complete the received-by sign-off before the goods leave: your copy of the signed order is what shows, later, that you released the right goods on a genuine instruction.